Following their bone-shattering debut EP Oraciones on their own Majia imprint, Texas duo Santa Muerte are readying their next EP, Cicatriz, which is out December 16 through Montréal-via-Mexico City label Infinite Machine.

Cicatriz contains three collaborative tracks with Infinite Machine affiliates WWWINGS and Tomas Urquieta, as well as American Bala Club producer Rules.

Ahead of the EP’s release, you can stream the WWWINGS collaboration ‘Void’, a slow-burning number that takes fractured glacial melodies and eery atmospherics to a whole new level.

Santa Muerte’s Cicatriz EP is out December 16 on Infinite Machine. Pre-order it here.

]]>From Gothic churches to the Halo cutscenes, Eaves’ influences are as varied as they are stark.

New York label PTP, fka Purple Tape Pedigree, has built up an excellent back catalogue of experimental, and at times challenging electronic music. So it’s no surprise that their latest release – and first in their PTP incarnation – is Verloren, the powerful debut LP from Brooklyn-based Eaves.

Across the board, this album represents an escalation from the young producer. Strings, synths, and harsh drums all combine to paint menacing and overbearing environments, as if writing the soundtrack to a future we all fear but is far closer than we’d like to admit. In the words of the producer: “If reality mimics our ominous, fictional projections of the future, it’s clear that our current systems aren’t resisting as much as they should be; or perhaps we will always follow the fictions we create.”

Eaves’ inspirations are not limited to music, for the former architecture student is just as likely to take great design and provocative imagery as touchstones for his art. So in this somewhat unorthodox list of influences for his new record, we find; music videos from Sam Rolfes and Werkflow, fictional cities from Liam Young, and Clive Young in Children of Men.

1. Fire at Sea

I recently just watched this documentary, and I think it should be required watching in schools – it’s visually stunning and yet so incredibly sobering, heartbreaking. Out of any documentary to come out recently, this is the one to watch.

2.Liam Young – Edgelands

Liam Young is by far my favourite architect right now… the whole “New City” series is really, really great. He also has some amazing lectures on YouTube; the final track on Verloren was named after his work.

3. Le Corbusier – Das “Couvent De La Tourette”

La Tourette is undoubtedly my favourite Corbusier project.

4.Ed Atkins – Ribbons

I saw Ed Atkin’s Safe Conduct while over in Europe this summer… everything he does is really something mind-bending and uncanny.

5.Halo – All Cutscenes

I ran this cutscene compilation a lot while writing Verloren.

6. Amnesia Scanner – AS Chingy

Sam Rolfes redefined music videos with this one… AS also with the track.

7. Patten – Epsilon

Werkflow – who did the cover art for Verloren – made one of the most beautiful and emotional videos of this year.

Having dropped a stellar two-track 10″ on Hungarian label Blorp earlier this year, Manchester-based producer Fred Shepherd, aka No Moon, is readying his debut 12″ for early next year.

Four-track EP Nothing Else Matters is out January 6 on London label X-Kalay – home to Slim Steve, Seixlack and Pearl River Sound – and holds the kind of rugged, feel good house jams that go down a treat at 5am.

You can hear EP cut ‘Listing Lazily To The Left’ below, a gritty journey through outer space, layered with jazz-inflected keys, soaring pads and a grooving bassline.

Stretching back to the early ’00s, the left-field electronic music label has become renowned for its eclectic stable of artists, constantly pushing the envelope and uncovering new talent, as well as championing stalwarts. It’s only fitting, then, that their new compilation would be a testament to this – featuring Synkro, kidkanevil, CYNE, Sweatson Klank, Parra for Cuva, and more across 39 cuts.

Today we’re premiering submerse’s contribution to the project, ‘Cloud_s’, a dreamy ride through gentle sonic landscapes akin to its namesake. With twinkling keys and a beat so relaxed it seems to occasionally forget to hit, the song crafts an atmospheric bliss. In its layered, shimmering melodies, the song sounds like the auditory equivalent of a crystal cave, a tranquil locale but one promising adventure. Listen in full below.

Project Mooncircle 15th Year Anniversary is out January 6, pre-order it here.

If you’re not already following Berlin and Munich-based label Toy Tonics, then it’s time to get involved with their latest release from Kian T. Having dropped his label debut last year, the Tuscan producer is back with his Room 69 EP. It’s a sample-heavy delight, featuring all the elements we expect, including a heavy presence from his collection of vintage synths, and an undeniable feel for the groove of a dancefloor that belies his rural lifestyle.

The EP’s titular track is an impressive mission statement, sizzling with rich, analogue sounds, and stomping drums. The song is airy in all the right places, with a heavily filtered voice singing softly over the top and a mesmerising blend of synths, while the tenacious beat demands a whole lot of movement.

Rhythm Section have been on a winning streak of late, with every release emerging from their Peckham HQ exuding quality. It’s only fittinthat they’re closing out 2016 strong with Joy, Ease, Lightness, the debut EP from Dan Kye, a new project from the soul-jazz-hip-hop maestro Jordan Rakei. From his new alias, Rakei is creating music aimed for the dancefloor, while retaining the jazzy elements that are so powerful in his primary work.

‘Like You Wanna’ channels the good vibes inherent in the EP’s title. With a shuffling drum line, and an infectious guitar riff alongside Rakei’s soulful croon, this is a summer jam through and through. Dispelling the harsh winter for the full four minutes and 15 seconds of its runtime. It may seem like an inopportune time to release a track like this, but I think it just gives more people a chance to discover it before next summer, when I have no doubt it will be blasting from every rooftop in London.

Released earlier this year, Texas-based producer Spencer Stephenson aka Botany’s third album, Deepak Verbera, was a psychedelic revelation for long-time fans. Moving away from the beat-scene style he crafted his identity around, Botany embraced a cosmic mash of free jazz, ringing harmonies, and guitars drowning in distortion. Bringing complex textures to the foreground, and for the most part completely foregoing a drum beat, Deepak Verbera was an atmospheric tour-de-force and an exciting new direction from an artist most commonly identified as a drummer.

Equally accustomed to surprising artistic choices is violinist, software engineer and composer Christopher Tignor. His latest album, Along a Vanishing Plane, is a sparse and haunting masterclass in pushing musical boundaries. Combining his violin with the sounds of tuning forks using a technique he conceived himself, Tignor was able to create a truly unprecedented LP that pays respect to the classical origins of his instrument, while being undoubtedly future facing in concept and execution.

We had to link the two Western Vinyl producers over email for a head to head interview, and they went deep. Delving into ideas of mortality, financial support for artists, and the significance of technology for electronic music performances. Read the interview below, and make sure you check out the new Botany remix of “One Eye Blue, One Eye Black”, as well as the original track’s video at the end.

Christopher Tignor: If not now, when?

Botany: Forever and never.

Christopher Tignor: Is it worth supporting art forms society as a whole doesn’t seem to value?

Botany: Totally. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever put much stock in what society does and doesn’t value, and I don’t give the average consumer a whole lot of points for prescience. Relevancy is fluid, and historically a lot of brilliant art has been shelved at the time of its creation. If we base all artistic relevance on the immediacy of a work’s impact and say that that’s what society values in it – especially what a capitalist society values in it – we end up with a bunch of really transient, but oddly pervasive garbage that we’re embarrassed about in a few short years. Also, biological evolution and the evolution of artistic endeavors are similar in many regards, namely that they both have to allow for infinite instances of failure in hopes one of those instances pushes the overall thing forward. Even the word “meme” originates in biology. Thoughts form, warp, change, and every now and then become breakthroughs. So it’s entirely worth it to support art whose value to a society isn’t entirely clear. And failure is part of an artist’s toolkit.

Christopher Tignor: Corollary, do artists deserve government support?

Botany: Yeah, they do. Many people have said this far more eloquently than I’m about to, but art doesn’t just serve some airy, leisurely purpose, it literally sets the tone for an entire society, or at the very least articulates a pre-existing tone. I think if art funding were a bit more socialized, art could become more pure in the sense that artists would try harder to reflect their own inner world instead of simply pandering to an outer one in hopes they’ll nail an existing market. I think an artist can be positively driven by the acquisition of money because that hustle can provide urgency and a desire to make something so definitive that the artist will never have to work a shitty day-job again. But on the other side of that, life in the grip of capitalism can eat up so much time, energy, and money, that art never gets made. When that happens you end up with endless, beige-bricked boxes that line highways and bear the same dozen or so logos from New York to California, ’cause everyone’s too busy trying to feed their families to worry about how the light hits the archway of the Applebee’s entrance. I think that subversively contributes to societal misery.

Christopher Tignor: Where is the line between online panhandling and “crowdsourcing”?

Botany: This is a perfect next question. Because of the lack of much government funding, there’s no dignity lost in directly reaching out to your core audience and asking them to open their wallets for something that contributes to their enjoyment. In a way that seems like the most capitalistic, hustle-savvy thing someone could do. In crowdsourcing, an artist is extending an invitation to allow the audience to participate, and that implies that art is inherently enjoyable to be a part of. You’re not asking the audience to reach down and pull you out of destitution, you’re telling them that if they put something in, you’ll put something out. Ultimately patrons aren’t giving you their money because they believe that art is a valuable and necessary part of society, that’s not at the forefront of their thoughts. Patrons are giving you their money because they’re confident you’ll do awesome shit with it. If they aren’t, they don’t.

Christopher Tignor: If all of life is suffering, how might we truly live?

Botany: Live with the suffering. I don’t think the true aim of spiritual transcendence is to eliminate suffering, but rather to walk alongside it and aim to understand it. I often hear the word “chill” associated with my music, and I think that’s a lazy description, or at least not very faithful one. I go out of my way to inject turbulence into what I make, and I pride myself on keeping that undertow just under the aesthetic surface of what I’m doing. If I don’t portray that dissonance, then I’m condescending the depths of human emotion and the struggles that guide it. Truly living is suffering, and that’s okay. Wouldn’t be much of a reason to make music without it.

Do you believe every artistic expression to be a political act?

Christopher Tignor: Only in the broadest sense, in that decisions are made which inescapably derive from and begin a dialogue with some aspect of society.

The wonderful thing about art is that everyone is free to make what they will of it — to reinvent that dialogue for themselves.

You may decide your one act puppet show is a resistance to fascism but what I might walk away with, after critical thought, is the absurdity of intention — and puppets.

Botany: In performing with a computer, where do you draw the line between actual performance and the illusion or imitation of performance?

Christopher Tignor: It’s all performance, some of it just works a whole lot better. People are sharp, and tend to not like it when they feel like the con is on.

Computers promise to hide complex decision making. The thing is, a whole lot of that decision making — including the muscular — is what people go to shows to bear witness to. The wise live electronic musician doesn’t use the medium as a default crutch but decides which decisions are best suited for machines and which are best suited for humans.

Botany: What theme, aesthetic, or emotion do you draw from most, creatively?

Christopher Tignor: The outsider, looking in.

Botany: If a solar storm hit Earth and the grid was wiped out tomorrow how would it affect your music?

Christopher Tignor: Well, my load-in would be much worse because I’d have to also haul a gas generator along with all my (rebuilt) gear.

(Historical note: in college we put on a rock show doing exactly this in an abandoned warehouse).

The thing about electronics, is you can’t really stop electrons from bumping into each other and inducing voltage and it’s only a matter of time before someone figures out how you can harness this natural phenomenon to turn on lights, ring bells, spin levers, and eventually represent information. Then there’s really no turning back from a world of streaming porn, gene programming, and badly predicted elections. So I guess my question back is how can one really make music ignoring the medium so materially bound to the only ideologies almost all of us have ever known.

Botany: How does the theme of mortality express itself in your own music?

Christopher Tignor: Few reasonable people believe we get more than just this one go around. So what do you really want to do with your most precious of times here — playing and creating music? Shake some booties? Prove how smart you are to some insular circle of colleagues? Music affords us the opportunity to ask ourselves what really matters and gives us a chance to build a world-view on our own terms which, when done well, cuts straight to our emotional centres. Music lets you lead by example.

]]>We first covered Philadelphia producer Gohda back in June when he turned in a deep freeze remix of ‘Prophet’ for LTHL’s remix EP on District Sound. Since then he’s kept busy with mixes for the likes of Brunswick Sound and The Levels Are Very High.

We’re very happy to be hosting his new project – Xxplode – the first instalment in District Sound’s new series of artist production mixes, all tied together by bespoke artwork from Josh Crumpler. DSMIX001 comprises 38 minutes of 100% Gohda productions, taking in original tracks, fire edits and brain-warping experimental sections along the way.

Growing up in South Jersey before moving to Philly, Gohda was raised on hip-hop and R&B before diving head-first into the strange pool that is UK electronic music. He has a striking talent for vocal sampling which, combined with powerful, often brutal low end, drives the emotional current of his music. We’re told this particular project was influenced by ’90s hip-hop tapes and the rise of technology. Fans of grime-leaning producers such Rabit, Bloom and Mssingno will find much to enjoy here.

Xxplode will be followed by an EP of the same name, out 23rd Dec on District Sound, comprising of tracks from the mixtape.

North London collective Ivy Lab have been blazing a new path since the launch of their 20/20 LDN project in 2015. Through their club nights and releases as a record label, they’ve been exploring the intersection of UK bass music and hip hop, touching on everything from footwork to jungle and future beats, without ever settling entirely on one.

Having now developed a clear identity and sound, Ivy Lab have just released the 20/20 LDN Volume Two compilation,which highlights the fertile half-time scene with tracks from Deft, Shield, Fracture and more.

Speaking on the the growth of their project, Ivy Lab said of the record:

“Cover all corners of the 20/20 genre-pool and drop a killer various artists LP once a year – that was always the plan. We’ve taken the bounciest cuts from the Ivy Lab vaults and paired them with the choicest picks from our in-house acts, some untapped talent, and guest appearances from artists that boast a lineage ranging from Teklife to Exit to Soulection to Project Mooncircle. These guest features are some of the most exciting we’ve had the pleasure to commission. The V/A LP format is the ideal (and perhaps the only) canvas to bring such a broad church together.”

We tracked down Ivy Lab to find out what lead to the inclusion of each track – stream it in full via Spotify, and read on for their commentary.

A core member of the 20/20 crew, Deft has been with us since day one. Holon channels that classic ‘Rufige / Metalheadz’ pallete of sci-fi meets dancehall meets Belgian nose-bleed.

02. Ivy Lab ­- Ghee

This one represents the rowdiest end of our repertoire; mixing neuro elements with MPC beat-work & spiky 303 motifs .It’s an exercise in massaging hip hop grooves into sound design more common to neurofunk drum n bass.

03. Fixate – ­Rickety Cricket

The Exit Records inductee makes a guest appearance for us with this jingle/jangle off-kilter banger. It’s essentially 100% percussion with incidentals thrown in for interest and punctuation, but is as pure a piece of drum work as you’ll ever hear.

04. Sinistarr -­ #accidentaldeathing

The very first track we signed for the project. Detroit refugee Sinistarr has been crafting all kinds of sick beats from his new found locale in Canada, and this was the stand out track from that recent batch. Trappy enough to be infectious, not so trappy that it becomes a 2013 cliche.

05. Ivy Lab ­- Shamrock VIP

Shades of Ludacris’ ‘Southern hospitality’ in this reworking of the flagship beat from the Volume.1 LP. Still got that menacing feel with a chop’n’screwed overture, but way more frantic and less sleazy than the original.

06. Havelock -­ Badbwoysound Ft. Ivy Lab

Havelock is about to blow and we’re gonna be there to help him in any way we can. Dude is dropping 3 or 4 fire-level beats per week at the moment. ‘Badbwoysound’ is perhaps a little more familiar in its template than much of his newer material. Triplet-bass hypnotically flowing over a frantic footwork-grooved beat, with the only aspect of melodic supplementation coming from the dancehall hook, looped to the edge of annoyance then reigned back in again.

07. Balatron -­ Poseidon

Rowdy viking music from hairy Icelandic dark-beats merchant Balatron. His heritage is easily witnessed through his bootleg flips of Busta Ryhmes & LL Cool J, but that heritage is always paired with sinister elements and moodiness as best demonstrated in this beat.

08. Ivy Lab ­- Socket

Classic ‘3 elements at a time’ Ivy Lab music. Beats, bass, hook and not a lot else. Less is more with this one. What might be less easily picked out is the crackling fire and scrunched paper reinforcing the bassline to make it weightier.

09. Phazz ­- Caution

Although mainly known for very grand melodies in r’n’b tinged / Soulection-esque / post-trap club tracks, Phazz spent a portion of his formative years occupying rowdier corners of the electronic music spectrum as shown in last year’s killer freebie ‘Insomnia’ and once again here for the compilation.

10. Shield -­ Slang Ft. Ivy Lab

Lot of swagger and laziness to this track; pairing Shields’ attention to groove and mutant bass with the Ivy Lab preference for a crunchy hip hop drum kit. Super OTT sound design and a bucket load of incidentals make this possibly the most complex track on the compilation.

11. Fracture -­ Give It To Me

Fracture is a verified breaks-work / drum programming legend expanding on what he currently does best; channelling the spirit of jungle into a millennium-production template whilst treading the very edge of “unofficial bootleg/remix” territory. Formation Records might well be sending their lawyers our way.

12. Havelock ­- Untitled Brock

The virtue of ‘Untitled Brock’ is as much about aesthetic as it is a composition. Capturing a flawed-cum-analog mix is essential to its charm making it groove along with an independence denied to most modern music as a consequence of clinical over-production. Few tracks translate warmth on such a broad range of listening environments.

13. Mr Frenkie ­- Attrakt

Frankie is a bit of an enigma, we were recently told by a fellow Russian (Greg from Teddy Killers) this guy is about to blow in the techno circuit after a co-sign to Dirtybird under a different alias?! Either way, statue or not / trajectory or not…. we just wanted to sign captivating music and this beat is both current yet futuristic; also familiar yet distinct.

14. Ivy Lab -­ Kalimba (Shorty Bend it Over)

We haven’t released so much stuff down here around 150bpm, but its proving to be a fertile territory for us and a lot of our peers at the moment. Slow enough to have the skank of 140, fast enough to capture the impatience of 160 but nestled nicely in the hinterlands. The slower pace and lushness of the melodic accent sections provide the perfect relief to an otherwise quite energetic and moody compilation.

Launching at Tottenham Hale’s STYX Space, In Lieu promises a night spanning the entire spectrum of house, disco, and techno. The opening party will be headlined by Munich-based COEO (Toy Tonics; Madhouse; Razor N Tape) who’ll be making their London debut, with support from In Lieu residents Books (XVI Recordings), Nick Gabriel (Black Boogie), and Rubycon. There’s also special guest (TBA on the night) who’s been busy touring Europe with Bonobo.

In Lieu @ STYX begins December 17, get your ticket here. Listen to the first mix instalment of ‘Sounds In Lieu’ from Books below.